Quiara
Grade School
Posts: 775
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iZombie
May 10, 2017 19:54:19 GMT -8
Post by Quiara on May 10, 2017 19:54:19 GMT -8
So there was a film where an anthropomorphic animal sang "Kiss from a Rose" ... and it wasn't a CGI seal?
0/10
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iZombie
May 29, 2017 4:45:33 GMT -8
Post by Jeremy on May 29, 2017 4:45:33 GMT -8
First the season premiere mentions Equatorial Kundu... now the most recent episode mentions Qumar.
Is this all building to something? Are we going to get a Zombie Josh Lyman in the finale?
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iZombie
Jun 1, 2017 20:21:05 GMT -8
Post by Zarnium on Jun 1, 2017 20:21:05 GMT -8
Any time Dungeons and Dragons makes an appearance on TV, I always take pleasure in scrutinizing the portrayal to determine if the writers actually followed the rules correctly, or made it look and feel like an actual game. I have to say, the most recent iZombie episode got it pretty close, with only a few inaccuracies I noticed; first, when one of the players says that there's a one in one hundred chance of one of them being the murderer, Liv rolls a twenty-sided die in response instead of a one hundred sided die. Next, the scene where Peyton's character almost dies is full of problems. Her character receives 34 points of damage and "dies," but since her HP was 34, she would have been at 0, meaning she would have still been conscious and alive, just weakened. Even if she had received enough damage to take her past 0, she wouldn't have been "dead," just unconscious. Once a character has less than 0 HP, depending on the edition, they either keep incurring negative hitpoints until they incur enough to die forever, or they keep rolling death saves until they either fail enough times to die or succeed enough times to stay alive. In no version that I am familiar with do the characters instantly die at under 0 HP, much less at exactly 0 HP. Lastly, Ravi brings her back to life by simply saying that he does, and Liv allows it. That should actually require an appropriate skill check or the use of a consumable health potion or magic spell, all of which also entail a die roll to determine the degree of success, and thus have a chance of failure if the character is injured enough that they don't get healed back to at least 0. Still, this was a far more accurate portrayal than in Eureka, where there are two characters who are constantly playing two-player games, which is not technically impossible, but would be extremely boring and awkward.
Incidentally, whenever a roleplaying game appears in a TV show, it's always some unspecified edition Dungeons and Dragons, and not one of the hundreds of other roleplaying games. This is especially weird for media made between around 2009-2015, since Dungeons and Dragons had had a bit of a fall from grace during that period with its controversial fourth edition, and Pathfinder was a lot more popular, at least among more experienced players. This is changing a bit now, since Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition fixed a lot of the things that were unpopular in fourth edition, so it's coming back into style.
If you made it this far, congratulations! This pedantic rambling that has no bearing on the quality of the actual episode was a waste of both my time, and yours. Have a nice day.
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Quiara
Grade School
Posts: 775
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iZombie
Jun 1, 2017 20:28:08 GMT -8
Post by Quiara on Jun 1, 2017 20:28:08 GMT -8
If it makes you feel better, I spent a full half hour dissecting why throwaway dialogue about Magic: the Gathering on Orphan Black was obviously written by someone who Googled the game an hour before the script was turned in.
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iZombie
Jun 2, 2017 14:56:49 GMT -8
Post by Jeremy on Jun 2, 2017 14:56:49 GMT -8
Incidentally, whenever a roleplaying game appears in a TV show, it's always some unspecified edition Dungeons and Dragons, and not one of the hundreds of other roleplaying games. This is especially weird for media made between around 2009-2015, since Dungeons and Dragons had had a bit of a fall from grace during that period with its controversial fourth edition, and Pathfinder was a lot more popular, at least among more experienced players. This is changing a bit now, since Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition fixed a lot of the things that were unpopular in fourth edition, so it's coming back into style. Community aired between 2009 and 2015, and had two different episodes centered around Dungeons & Dragons. (The first of which is among the best episodes in the series.) Perhaps the show helped the game get through a rough period! In any case, the scene where Liv and friends sit around playing D&D was one of my favorite iZombie scenes ever. And I've never actually played D&D.
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iZombie
Jun 2, 2017 16:03:33 GMT -8
via mobile
Post by Zarnium on Jun 2, 2017 16:03:33 GMT -8
Oh, despite my griping, I thought the episode was really good, particularly the big DnD scene. I'm more than willing to let rules inaccuracies slide for the sake of humor.
I will say that the DnD play was fairly milquetoast compared to the bizarre campaigns I've been in in the past, such as the time one of my fellow players survived imminent death by drowning at the bottom of a lake by getting eaten by a giant frog.
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iZombie
Jun 23, 2017 8:46:46 GMT -8
Post by Zarnium on Jun 23, 2017 8:46:46 GMT -8
After that last episode, I think we now have the star for a new Sarah Michelle Gellar biopic! Seriously, I never thought of Rose McIver and SMG looking all that similar, but the second I saw this image I was immediately struck by how much they look alike with similar makeup and hair. You could've told me this was a shot from Ringers or something and I wouldn't have thought twice about it.
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iZombie
Jun 28, 2017 8:34:14 GMT -8
Post by Jeremy on Jun 28, 2017 8:34:14 GMT -8
Well, that finale was... dark.
So, where does the show go from here? The mystery-of-the-week stories have always been a staple of the series, and I expect the writers will find a way for them to continue, but the status quo has just been seriously, irreparably upended.
In any case, this was another fun and energetic season, and perhaps the show's best-paced so far. With American Crime gone, I think it's safe to call iZombie my favorite current network drama.
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iZombie
Jun 30, 2017 15:07:05 GMT -8
Post by Jeremy on Jun 30, 2017 15:07:05 GMT -8
Can't believe it's taken me this long to do a "Get Onboard" post, but, um... get onboard.
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Quiara
Grade School
Posts: 775
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iZombie
Jun 30, 2017 15:56:04 GMT -8
Post by Quiara on Jun 30, 2017 15:56:04 GMT -8
I'm sure that now that you've done a Get Onboard on it, iZombie will continue to improve, just like that other sci-fi-tinged show with a female lead!
(Also, you forgot to tag the post TV.)
((Also also, wouldn't it be lit if you had a tag for Get Onboard posts?))
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iZombie
Jun 30, 2017 16:01:42 GMT -8
via mobile
Post by Jeremy on Jun 30, 2017 16:01:42 GMT -8
Halt and Catch Fire improved after Jay's article, Blog posts never have TV tags, and it would be kind of lit.
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Post by Zarnium on Jul 1, 2017 5:05:45 GMT -8
I liked the third season a lot, and it was really helped by the fact that none of the main cast were in the dark about Liv being a zombie anymore. I find that sort of "secret identity" stuff to be annoying. Three complaints:
-I still don't think this whole race-war/armed conflict thing makes a lot of sense. If Filmore Graves had spent their time, funds, and manpower on developing a cure instead of a militia, all of the problems that they're fighting against could have been avoided. Ravi made a cure by himself with no money, I'm sure that a well-funded corporation wouldn't have any trouble. I know, the zombies view themselves as a persecuted minority and zombieism as an identity, but that's as nonsensical as someone who's HIV positive refusing a 100% cure. Building the story as an allegory for the stigma associated with real-life chronic illness would've made more sense, and it's an underserved concept in fiction, anyway.
-Blaine's amnesia is by far the worst story-arc that's been featured on this show. Initially, it took away the edgy, compelling Blaine and made him into a much less interesting character, which was bad enough, but then the way it's resolved makes no sense. Supposedly he faked amnesia so that he could shrug off the baggage of his old life and become a better person, but right after his lie is discovered, he returns to his old ways almost instantly. This begs the question, if he folded so soon after being found out, why did he ever decide to make a change in the first place if he was always the same person with the same memories the whole time, and clearly didn't want to continue once the jig was up? And if he didn't actually lose his memory, how was he so flawlessly good at "being good" and avoiding the actions and behaviors that he's been disposed to? I'm guessing that the writers decided the plot wasn't working out and they wanted the old Blaine back, but in that case, it would have been better for him to have regained his memory somehow, not to have been faking most of the time. (Also, I finally realized that "Blaine" sounds like "Brain," so I'm trying to figure out if his name is a pun or not. "Blaine De Beers?" Is there something I'm missing?)
-Liv's family is still entirely absent from the show. The first season made a big deal about how Liv's change was straining her relationship with her family, culminating in her refusing a blood transfusion for her brother and not being able to tell them why. This is all swept under the rug in the first episode of the second season, and then we never hear about her family again, and nothing that happened with them ever affects the plot again.
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iZombie
Jul 1, 2017 12:12:59 GMT -8
Post by Jay on Jul 1, 2017 12:12:59 GMT -8
Halt and Catch Fire improved after Jay's article, Blog posts never have TV tags, and it would be kind of lit. Oh my goodness, I actually did it. But I do have some misgivings about our tradition of these posts. Mikejer and I watched a large portion of the first season of Orphan Black with a mutual friend who was complaining about the over-reliance on disguises and how the show didn't feel particularly integrated and those have been issues Orphan Black has never escaped. I had my fun writing a quirky intro for Les Revenants, but I don't feel like I wrote it as well as I wanted to (too confusing for people that weren't also watching/familiar with other zombie franchises) and I was totally blindsided by the fact that the show ended, quite abruptly, after the second season. I heard that the writer was having mental and emotional stress issues so I think the network forced him to write an ending in order to cut bait, leaving us unsatisfied when it seemed like we were on the cusp of something more interesting. Of course, there's a tradition of this sort of thing and MJ and I were really excited about shows like BSG and The Walking Dead, back in season one when each show felt like it had stakes, only to have that tension dissolve into cyclical and arbitrary developments. It's hard to guess what anything's going to be with any accuracy, given how many other factors end up being involved.
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iZombie
Jul 1, 2017 18:10:06 GMT -8
Post by Jeremy on Jul 1, 2017 18:10:06 GMT -8
-Blaine's amnesia is by far the worst story-arc that's been featured on this show. Initially, it took away the edgy, compelling Blaine and made him into a much less interesting character, which was bad enough, but then the way it's resolved makes no sense. Supposedly he faked amnesia so that he could shrug off the baggage of his old life and become a better person, but right after his lie is discovered, he returns to his old ways almost instantly. This begs the question, if he folded so soon after being found out, why did he ever decide to make a change in the first place if he was always the same person with the same memories the whole time, and clearly didn't want to continue once the jig was up? And if he didn't actually lose his memory, how was he so flawlessly good at "being good" and avoiding the actions and behaviors that he's been disposed to? I'm guessing that the writers decided the plot wasn't working out and they wanted the old Blaine back, but in that case, it would have been better for him to have regained his memory somehow, not to have been faking most of the time. (Also, I finally realized that "Blaine" sounds like "Brain," so I'm trying to figure out if his name is a pun or not. "Blaine De Beers?" Is there something I'm missing?) Has there ever been an amnesia arc on TV that both benefited the characters and had a satisfying resolution? I'm sure there must be one somewhere, but I've forgotten it. (Ironic, I know.) I don't think Blaine's name is a pun, unless the writers are implying something about a brewery. But I do have some misgivings about our tradition of these posts. Mikejer and I watched a large portion of the first season of Orphan Black with a mutual friend who was complaining about the over-reliance on disguises and how the show didn't feel particularly integrated and those have been issues Orphan Black has never escaped. I had my fun writing a quirky intro for Les Revenants, but I don't feel like I wrote it as well as I wanted to (too confusing for people that weren't also watching/familiar with other zombie franchises) and I was totally blindsided by the fact that the show ended, quite abruptly, after the second season. I heard that the writer was having mental and emotional stress issues so I think the network forced him to write an ending in order to cut bait, leaving us unsatisfied when it seemed like we were on the cusp of something more interesting. Of course, there's a tradition of this sort of thing and MJ and I were really excited about shows like BSG and The Walking Dead, back in season one when each show felt like it had stakes, only to have that tension dissolve into cyclical and arbitrary developments. It's hard to guess what anything's going to be with any accuracy, given how many other factors end up being involved. Well, that's an issue with reviewing any ongoing series. You never know if a seemingly great show is suddenly going to pull a Heroes and turn mediocre. But that unpredictability is all part of the fun!
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Post by Zarnium on Jul 3, 2017 5:14:01 GMT -8
Has there ever been an amnesia arc on TV that both benefited the characters and had a satisfying resolution? I'm sure there must be one somewhere, but I've forgotten it. Given that I've complained about amnesia on multiple different threads lately, you probably know my answer already. Amnesia can work really well if it's the central conceit of the story, like in Dark Matter. (Or The Adventure Zone, for that matter.) If it's a smaller part of a larger story that has previously had nothing to do with amnesia, it's usually an unconvincingly arbitrary twist that screws with natural character development in many different ways.
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